Benjamin Rush / by William Pepper.

  • William Pepper
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Benjamin Rush / by William Pepper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ments ; but even then he was diligent in medical observation and writing. He shared the doubts of Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee as to the military genius of Washington ; and his unshrinking courage and vehement spirit led him into positions and ex- pressions which he doubtless regretted later when time and events had demonstrated the rare qual- ities of the great leader. But at the same time (1785), he projected the Philadelphia Dispensary, following the example of Franklin in regard to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and devoting himself with equal vigor and success to the collection of funds. He carefully prepared the public mind by describing the advantage of such an institu- tion, for it was the first of its kind in the United States. Public interest being aroused, combined efforts secured such liberal contributions that the Dispensary was placed upon a permanent basis, and for more than a century has continued its unostentatious but precious work. It is needless to remark that its example has been followed in hundreds of places. He had already attained such prominence in medical circles that in 1789, when the College of Physicians was established, he was called upon to prepare an address on the objects of the institution, which is published in the Transactions for 1793. It is a very able paper, altogether worthy of the occasion, and with far sighted sagacity it indicates the lines of development along which that venerable institu- tion has grown into such gratifying prosperity. He was profoundly interested in moral philos- ophy, and in 1787 read to the Philosophical Society, of which he was one of the most active members, an essay on the '' Influence of Physical Causes on the Moral Faculty, which was of such remarkable originality as to attract the widest attention here and abroad. It de- servedly occupies the position of a classic. In the same^ year he became a member of the Con- vention of Pennsylvania for the adoption of the Federal Constitution and of that for the forming of a State Constitution. He labored, spoke and wrote incessantly, enthusiastically and forcibly,— not for partisan or personal ends, but in obedience